senile1

Welcome to the community.

Many of us struggle with time for the forum from time to time. It's normal. Welcome back.

Welcome to the community.

Hello, Jim. Welcome to the forum.

The word "slow" is a very subjective word. Often, we tell people to fish slowly but we give them no idea what slow is. This is fishing slow for me. After the jig has been cast or pitched let it soak for 10 to 30 seconds, shaking in place on occasion. Then start a slow crawl, no more than a couple of inches at a time, occasionally throwing in a little longer crawl movement. Intersperse these movements with letting the lure sit and shaking it in place. When you feel the lure is no longer in the area where the fish are located reel it in. A cast can last as little as 30 seconds to a minute, or it could be two to five minutes depending on how far you crawl the lure or if you crawl it all the way back to the boat. If you feel the lure hit a limb, stump, rock, etc. stop moving it for a few seconds, shake it in place a couple of times, then work it over or through the cover. Sometimes a quick tiny movement after a stop will provoke a strike. Keep in mind that you want to fish slow in areas that you are fairly certain are holding fish. You will have a long day fishing this slow if there are no fish in the vicinity. Location, location, location. Concentrate on feeling the jig and watching your line. Sometimes the bite is just a tiny tick and sometimes you won't feel it at all. There may be a slight heaviness or the line may start to move off. When this occurs set the hook. Temperatures in my lakes are 40s to mid 50s at this time depending on the size of the lake. The colder it is the slower I go for the most part, though this rule of thumb doesn't always hold true. By the way, if you think this is slow research the technigue of "stitching." You can find threads about this technique on this site.

We tied my first dear to the handlebars of my bicycle.

I heard about this last night on Conan O'Brien's show. Funny.

Welcome! That's a nice introduction. You've come to the right place. Check out the fishing articles on the site including the beginner sections. The link is at the left on the green bar above. You'll find a treasure trove of information in these articles. There are plenty of other people from Virginia on this site who can help you with specific areas in your geographic region. You Virginians are like a plague of locusts. You're everywhere on this forum.

According to some In-Fisherman books bass use the cover for both predation and protection depending on the size of the other fish in the lake. In lakes with large Pike and Muskies there aren't as many pelagic bass. They tend to not venture as far from the outside weedline or from cover due to these larger predators.

Looking at the Strike King catalog, color 102 (the Amber Green/Black chunk) looks like it would be a close match to PB&J jigs if you like matching the colors. The bits of green won't match the jelly color but everything else should be pretty close.

Welcome to the forum.

I use the Bama Craw and Dirty Craw colors with a PB&J colored jig for the craws but I'm not sure the same colors are offered in the chunks.

While you are at it buy some 3/8 and 1/2 oz jigs and some Rage Tail Craws. You have to throw a bigger bait sometimes to hook big mama. I would continue throwing those tubes as well but use a jighead made for them. Or you could rig them with the hook threaded through a tube weight inside the tube.

That was an ugly game. The refs were on our side on the fumble in the fourth quarter, but they missed a ton of calls that hurt the Chiefs as well as the Raiders. Tamba Hali was being held on almost every single pass play and it was obvious. Four times I watched the tackle wrap his arm around his neck and hold him by his head, and that was just when I was paying attention. They finally called him for holding late in the fourth quarter. And how about the 4th down call early in the first quarter when it was first and goal? Geez, I was wondering if they deserved to get paid. There were lots of bad calls both ways. I don't think the refs helped the Chiefs any more than they helped the Raiders. Congratulations on the win, though. Hopefully, we can return the favor when you guys come to Arrowhead.

My eyes aren't what they once were. I had to do a double-take to read this correctly. At first, I thought you stated "3000 #s of boat, motor, gasoline, and beer."

Call a tow truck and take it to a shop. Don't drive it anymore than you already have. I don't know how far you drove it in this condition but it doesn't take long to build up an extreme amount of heat. I'll bet your hub is shot to hell from your description. Pray that your spindle is good if it is an old trailer. I'm not sure how easy it will be to get parts for that. Good luck.

Randall, the way you hook up with the big girls on a regular basis it was just a matter of time. What a fish!

Welcome to BR. Some day Virginia will rule the world. I can't believe how many Virginians are members here.

The trouble is the vast majority of the electorate are misinformed for every election. Many on the right listen to people who provide them with carefully chosen facts (i.e Limbaugh, Hannity, etc) that support their viewpoint and many on the left do the same (i.e. Olberman, Maddow, etc.). No one in either of these groups has all the facts and yet, each of their favorite talk show hosts tell them they are the most informed audience in the nation. In my opinion, to be an informed voter you need to listen to both sides and read the financial websites and pages almost every day. If you did you would be shocked at how much information from talk shows is twisted or only uses anecdotal instances to support the viewpoint they want to espouse. But I digress . . . . yes, I voted.

The colors he uses are very similar to mine. I'll bet 90 percent of bass anglers use those colors. The 3/8 and 1/2 ounce are his favorite sizes but those aren't the only sizes he uses. http://www.brauerbass.com/articles/26_denny_pickjigsize.htm

Yes, I guess I should clarify. I don't lose a lot of crankbaits but there are only so many of those special crankbaits that just seem to work better than others that are the same model. It's just a feeling. I always want more. Every time I do lose one I feel like I need to buy a few more to find that one special one to replace it. I don't always succumb to this feeling but it is always there.

Welcome!

I agree with J Francho. Without a study you don't know if making the lake a C & R lake will help the population or ruin it. Taking a percentage of the small ones for food could be the best thing for that lake. The fact that you are catching large healthy fish would seem to indicate that the population may be fine. If your conservation department is anything like Missouri's I suspect they already have that data collected.

I never feel like I have enough of my favorite crankbaits.

kevinator, are you located in the northern half of Indiana? I'm in Kansas City and we still have some bigger lakes with water temperatures in the 50s, though the air temperatures are getting into the upper 20s this week for lows with highs in the 40s to 50s. We are at about the same longitude as Bloomington, IN. I would bet the Southern half of Indiana is still in the Fall to late Fall bass season. If you're down there, don't put that boat away.